Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Hui Yue was both scared and confused as his eyes widened while he stared at the bed. The entire situation was something which he completely did not understand. These giants did not seem hostile is what Hui Yue thought while observing the two adults. He continued to contemplate for a while but decided that the easiest way to gain information would be to simply ask them.

  Although he had decided to seek help from the friendly giants, it still took a few breaths for him to stabilize himself and calm his soul before he finally opened his mouth.

  “Goo goo, Gah... Uwhaa!” Hui Yue tried to say something along the lines of ‘Excuse me, could you explain what is going on here?’ However, the words that came out of his mouth made no sense. Hui Yue’s eyes widened as he got quiet and had a strange and rather uncomfortable premonition.

  “Listen, darling,” the bearded giant said as he reached down and carried Hui Yue towards the fatigued woman. “Our son is already trying to speak.” There was tenderness in his voice, and the same tenderness was shown on the woman’s face.

  The tenderness and care that these two people showed Hui Yue made his heart ache as he was reminded of his parents and the pain he left behind with his premature death, not to mention his own suffering. Seeing these two adults made him long for his parents. It made him miss how they would talk with him randomly, or lovingly scold him when he broke things.

  He also missed Li Fen. The woman whom he had given his life to save, and the woman who meant the world to him. He had hoped to be reunited with her, but now he realized that it was highly unlikely to ever happen; he would probably never see her again. This realization caused a lump to form in Hui Yue’s throat, and he fought back to avoid crying.

  Lying on his new mother’s bosom, Hui Yue forced himself to ignore the pain and sadness he felt from the loss of his parents and Li Fen. Instead, he started thinking about everything that had happened to him.

  He should have believed the old lady when she said that the hairpin was cursed. It truly did seem to have killed him; however, as he was thinking about his situation he said in his mind, ‘I wish I knew how I went from death to rebirth.’

  ‘Obviously, it was caused by my astonishing power,’ A self-satisfied voice spoke from somewhere inside of Hui Yue’s mind causing the already frightened young man to become even more frightened. The voice seemed faintly familiar.

  ‘Who are you?’ Hui Yue asked tentatively while trying to remember where he had heard this voice before; however, as soon as he had that thought, he remembered. It was the voice he had heard as he was dying.

  Hui Yue instantly became alert and did not allow for even the slightest muscle in his new body to relax. He knew that he was in a very dangerous situation. He had the body of an infant, and he seemed unable to fight back in his current state.

  Is he a death reaper? Hui Yue questioned himself while refusing to say anything else. But as he kept his silence, it seemed as if it did not matter much as the voice gave a healthy laugh.

  ‘Ha ha, You’re not bad kid!’ The voice exclaimed happily as if it were praising a dog, ‘I am the legendary blue phoenix, and I was sealed within that cursed hairpin which you bought.’

  ‘You… you’re the one who killed me?!’ Hostility flared up in Hui Yue’s mind as he roared at the hidden voice.

  This voice belonged to the person who took Li Fen away from him! This blue phoenix was the one who had taken away his hopes for a future and taken away his parents’ only child. This self-proclaimed phoenix made Hui Yue seethe with rage.

  ‘Nah, I did not cause the truck to appear. I just used the opportunity to merge with you,’ the voice sounded bored as it spoke. It seemed as if he did not even care about Hui Yue’s death, which in turn only nurtured the younger man’s rage.

  ‘You should thank me you know.’ The voice said as if it was capable of sensing the hostility which was aimed towards him; nonetheless, the voice still contained obvious disdain.

  ‘If I hadn’t merged with you, you would not have been able to reincarnate this quickly.’ Once again the voice turned smug as it pointed out just how much Hui Yue owed him.

  I doubt he is lying; Hui Yue thought annoyed. It seems as if this person does not care about me at all, so why would he bother to lie about such a thing? After contemplating for a short while, Hui Yue decided to believe the arrogant voice in his mind. In the end, he had no real choice if he wished to get information.

  ‘What do you mean when you say that you caused me to reincarnate? Where am I?”

  As soon as Hui Yue asked these questions, he heard a sigh from the phoenix, and somehow he understood the feelings the phoenix felt.

  He felt a certain degree of impatience, and annoyance but also hope. Hui Yue felt astonished as he realized that he was currently able to understand the feelings of the voice inside of his mind. He was deeply astounded, but at the same time unsure why the phoenix would allow him to feel this.

  ‘I will tell you a long story,’ the phoenix said after a pause.

  ‘I have nothing but time, I’m a baby you know.’ He thought while noticing that his new mother had fallen asleep. Hui Yue pretended to be asleep as well so that he would not be disturbed while talking with the voice in his mind. Had Hui Yue not been moved to a different world, he would have been certain that he was going insane.

  ‘Be quiet and listen to my story,’ the phoenix said just as the silence was getting suffocating, and his actions made Hui Yue think of a child throwing a tantrum.

  ‘It is really quite a long story, and you better listen because I will only say it once.’ The phoenix said aggressively, but Hui Yue just stayed quiet, waiting for the bird to start his story.

  He had a feeling that the phoenix was able to understand everything about him, his thoughts, his emotions, everything. Even if they did not directly communicate, he felt that the bird understood him. Unfortunately, it seemed this did not work both ways.

  ‘Hmm,’ the phoenix grumbled a little before he decided how to start, ‘This world is quite different from the one you are used to. Here strength is what matters the most; the stronger you are, the better prospects you have in life.’

  The phoenix was quiet for a second before continuing, ‘This world was created by the four divine beasts: the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Turtle. These four divine beasts created multiple worlds prior to this one; however, they decided to settle here. They laid down their bodies as the foundation for each of their countries, and their consciousness created new bodies that they used to walk these lands and experience a normal life.’

  Hui Yue was dumbfounded as he heard about these four beasts. He had never thought that they were real. In China, they valued these beasts by naming constellations after them and even went as far as to call them symbols of China. To think that these beasts were real and that he was in a world they created, it was simply unfathomable.

  Even though Hui Yue was filled with excitement and astonishment, he did not open his mouth even once. Instead, he was focusing on what Lan Feng was saying. He would definitely not repeat this later, Hui Yue thought dejectedly.

  The phoenix spoke once again, ‘Thousands of years passed after the divine beasts created this world and they had started their own families in their individual countries where they settled down. Their descendants were not divine beasts; instead, they were normal humans.’ Hearing what this odd phoenix said, Hui Yue felt nostalgia wash over him. Immediately he felt how strange it was to feel this as he had no reason whatsoever to feel nostalgia which caused him to assume that these emotions belonged to the phoenix.

  ‘Time went by, and eventually, the four divine beasts decided to enter an eternal slumber. They had long since buried their original bodies far below the surface of this world, and they spent the rest of their energy to create four massive mountain ranges that split the whole continent into four equal parts. Those four parts represented the locations of each of their bodies. In the middle was a large castle they had created when
they first came to this world. Each one of the divine beasts called their oldest son to the Four Beast’s Palace in the center of the continent. There they passed down their legacy together with some of their powers and the right to lead their kingdom. After this rite of passage was completed, they reentered their original slumbering bodies and went into an eternal slumber.’

  Yet another wave of sadness and nostalgia hit Hui Yue as these final words were spoken. Although these feelings did not belong to him, they greatly influenced Hui Yue’s mood.

  Hui Yue was not a slow person, and he instantly understood that this was part of the phoenix’s story.

  ‘The sons did a good job and many thousands of years passed by in peace. Civilization flourished, and humans started cultivating their internal powers. However, four thousand years ago a human tricked the descendant of the Azure Dragon and used his powers to seal and banish the four beast clan leaders from this world.’

  This time, he felt a mixture of hate, regret, and pity as he understood part of the reason why the phoenix had ended up as a hairpin.

  ‘You are the eldest son of the Vermilion Bird?’ Hui Yue asked as he decided to make sure his assumptions were right. He had a lot of questions waiting to be answered.

  ‘That’s right,’ the phoenix said with a proud voice, and Hui Yue understood that he indeed had a right to be proud.

  ‘Then why are we stuck in a baby’s body instead of one matching our age?’ Hui Yue could not help but ask. Being in an infant’s body with the mind of a twenty-four year old person was simply too surreal for him to accept.

  ‘Why don’t you try being sealed inside a hairpin for four thousand years?’ The phoenix snorted, ‘I had almost no power back then, and only a small fraction got released when I merged with you while you were dying. We share a body right now, so I am unfortunately also quite limited by this arrangement,’ he continued with disdain.

  ‘Hey, don’t complain about the body. It was you who chose it!’ Hui Yue pointed out as he laughed at this incredibly haughty phoenix. A strange sense of satisfaction grew within Hui Yue every time he made the phoenix display his unhappiness.

  Despite Hui Yue having been attracted to the Blue Phoenix hairpin, he was definitely repulsed by this self-proclaimed phoenix. It was hard to explain why his feelings were like this, and he could not think of any valid reasons; however, something about the phoenix made him annoyed.

  That being said, Hui Yue genuinely enjoyed hearing about this new world in which he ended up. Especially the story of the four divine beasts which made his heart beat much faster.

  The phoenix also had a good reason for why he was so arrogant. Not many were able to claim that they were the first born son of the Vermilion Bird.

  ‘I didn’t have many bodies to choose from you know,’ the phoenix replied. ‘You should be thankful. If I did not help you reincarnate you would have been stuck in the Netherworld for god knows how long, and then there would be no possibility for you to remember anything about your previous life.’

  ‘It was you who was complaining,’ Hui Yue laughed as he enjoyed hearing the phoenix trying to persuade him to feel indebted to him.

  ‘Shut up. Do you want me to continue with the story or not?’ Hearing that, Hui Yue decided not to argue any further and waited for the phoenix to continue.

  ‘It has been four thousand years since I was last here, so I don’t know how the countries are split up right now, nor do I know who controls what. But I do know about cultivation, and that is one thing that will never change.’

  Hui Yue’s interest was piqued even further when he heard the word cultivation. He had cultivated in the past, but he never found it to be helpful.

  ‘Everywhere in this world is the essence of the heavens and the earth. Every person has something called a lower dantian. This is where one can refine the essence of the heavens and the earth into Qi and store it in a Qi spiral. Cultivators increase their strength by gathering essence and refining it into Qi. Refinement is the first step in the world as a cultivator. The finer one’s Qi is, the better their results will be. There are three different dantians in the body, but you can only gain access to the next two if you have enough strength.’

  ‘Very confusing’ Hui Yue thought, as he tried to follow the bird’s explanation. The phoenix within him explained quite a bit about this world in a very short amount of time causing Hui Yui to understand very little on the subject. All this caused a slight headache to come his way.

  ‘It’s not my fault it is confusing!’ The phoenix said without the slightest display of pity, and he quickly continued his monologue giving Hui Yue no time to digest the previous information.

  ‘Okay, listen closely. Cultivators are ranked into ten ranks of strength, and every rank is split into nine stars. The first rank is Student, then Disciple, which is followed by Practitioner. Those three rely solely on the lower dantian, and refinement of essence into Qi.’ After this, the voice paused for a moment causing a smile to appear on Hui Yue’s infant face.

  Although the phoenix claimed that he did not care whether or not he understood, he still paused and allowed Hui Yue to quickly think over the information given committing it into memory.

  ‘If a person has enough Qi of good quality and some cultivating talent it is possible to break into the Master rank.’ The phoenix continued with an overbearing voice pretending that the previous paused never happened. Hui Yue was quite amused but chose not to comment on how the phoenix seemed to act cold but was actually considerate.

  ‘After Master rank comes Grand Master then Duke. When a cultivator reaches these three ranks, they still absorb essence into the lower dantian and also refine it to Qi, but they also open the middle dantian.’

  The phoenix took another short break before he continued, ‘Qi travels from the lower to the middle dantian and gets refined even further into spiritual power. It is much finer than the regular Qi, and it allows the cultivator to use higher ranked techniques amongst its other uses.’ The phoenix did not dwell on talking about spiritual power much because it would be a very long time before Hui Yue would even be able to see a spiritual power user. Hui Yue could only approve of this decision. He already felt flooded with new information which he tried to keep from mixing together.

  ‘The three ranks after that are King, Emperor, and Saint. To achieve the rank of King, you need to open the final dantian, the upper dantian. It allows the user to refine their spiritual power into Wu Wei. Wu Wei is the ultimate strength, and upon achieving it, you will be in an entirely different league than all other cultivators below this rank. However, it requires building some insane basics from the start at the lower dantian and continuing with intense, grueling training throughout the middle dantian. One can only hope to reach the Emperor rank, and because of this they are incredibly rare.’ The phoenix was quiet for quite some time while trying to think if it explained all the necessary information.

  This silence was well received by Hui Yue, who was working his brain at the highest possible speed. He managed to digest all the information slowly and made sure to memorize it all.

  A frown appeared on his infant's face as he thought of everything the phoenix just said, ‘Isn’t that only nine ranks?’ Hui Yue said slightly confused, ‘What is the tenth?’, ‘It’s the God rank,’ Lan Feng answered swiftly. ‘But you don’t need to know about that yet. First, it is completely different from the ranks that rely on one’s dantians, and second, there have only been four Gods as far as I am aware.’

  ‘What rank were you before you were sealed?’ Hui Yue asked with curiosity but did not expect to be given a proper answer based on their previous history. Surprisingly, the phoenix replied to him honestly, ‘I was at the Saint rank before. As far as I know, there has only been four Gods in all of history, and they were the four divine beasts.’

  ‘If you were a Saint rank then weren’t you really strong?’ The hostility towards the phoenix was dropping slightly, and Hui Yue began to feel more and more curious abo
ut this phoenix, the only company he had. The thought of no longer being near Li Fen still hurt him quite badly, but if he focused all his attention on cultivating the essence of the heavens and the earth, there was a chance that he could get past his broken heart.

  ‘I was very strong before,’ the phoenix answered smugly; however, this smug feeling was quickly replaced by something that sounded like a sigh.

  ‘Right now I can’t use my powers very well. I am trapped in this body with you. If I was stupid enough to use my strength, I guarantee that this body would explode, and we would both die horribly.’

  ‘But can’t you just do another instant reincarnation then?’ Hui Yue asked. He knew that it was probably unlikely, but at the same time, he also wished to ask all his questions to get a definite answer from the only person who was able to give them.

  ‘Do you think I am some almighty person? When you die, your soul goes to the Netherworld. In the Netherworld, it will wander around until you lose all your memories of your previous life. It doesn't matter if it is you or me, we would both forget. I could help us out this one time because I used the last vestiges of my remaining power, but don’t expect me to be able to do anything like that for a long time to come.’